My album of the year (although from 2013). Glad I discovered this. Great guitar tone by Greg Howe and awesome vocals. It’s not a shred record but great songs, great arrangements and very tasty guitar playing.

I had high expectations for this since Are You With Me Now is one of my favorite songs and has been for some time. Modern Vintage isn’t quite there yet but still growing. Well produced as to be expected.

In recent months I discovered a couple of new bands. Some that have been around the block a couple of times, some newer ones. The came via Twitter, Premier Guitar’s rig rundowns and simple recommendations. Maybe you like some as well.

Vulfpeck – Outro (from the album Vollmilch)
Imagine a mellower Dixie Dregs, totally listenable, but with lines you wish you had written and a groove reminiscent of Tower of Power.

Brand New – Sowing Season (from the album The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me)
The video is from a live performance so you maybe want to follow the album link to spotify instead. Make sure to watch the first two minutes – when the band kicks in there’s a great guitar line that everything is built up on – just magical.

Reigning Sound – Never coming home (from the album Shattered)
Great old sound, lots of songs about love.

Steve Harris – This is my God (from the album British Lion)
Steve Harris? The name rings a bell? Right, he’s the bass player for Iron Maiden. This is his solo effort, quite neat.

Dream the Electric Sheep – Heretics
Usually this is a much too spheric album for me. I think it’s the bony bass guitar sound that holds it together. Vocals sound a bit like Kenny from Karnivool, I detect some Beatles in there, as well. It’s easy listening but nice…

Another edition of stuff I found on YouTube which I thought you might appreciate.

1. I love a certain from of country music. This song came via Joe Bonnamassa on Twitter. A simple song with great atmosphere.

2. For a long time I have been fan of the interview format in longform, be it This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis or Foundation with Kevin Rose. In this instance, Kevin hosts David Copperfield, who seems nice and has a couple of good stories.

3. Dream Theater, well, you know the drill. But wait, this guy plays Take the Time on an acoustic guitar, and if you are familiar with the piece you will be impressed by how far he takes it.

Lately I seem to spend a lot of time on YouTube. A. Lot. of. Time.
The amount of videos there that interests me is ridiculous but of course, I don’t have enough time. Just a very long “watch later” list.
But why should I alone have all the fun – here are the gems I found in January, from a musicians point of view of course.

1.Foo Fighters on recording “Wasting Light” at Dave Grohl’s house
The question was “what can we make different in recording this new album”. Fascinating. Sure it’s easy to go easy about a new album when you have millions in the bank but you still have to get the creative juices flowing in the right direction. Mission accomplished.

2. Guthrie Govan on Dunlop TV
I didn’t know about this guy until two years ago and he quickly came to be one of my favorite players. For one thing, he’s British, not only with the accent but also with a superb sense of humor, I could just listen to him talk for hours. On the other hand, he merges lots of playing styles with a level of fluidity that most guys are happy to reach in one style. This is just a peak, lots more to find.

3. Backyard Concert with Jason Mraz
All I knew was “I’m yours” but for some reason this clip made it into my watch later list. I watched about an hour of it and although it’s just him with a guitar on a makeshift stage I had the greatest time. He sings great, very witty, totally cool about the situation and being just a nice dude.

4. Rig Rundown – Aerosmith’s Joe Perry
Rig rundowns are fun. Basically a well-known guitarist explains his live setup, or as in this case, his guitar tech. Perry’s tech has a lot of work to do each night, I chose this rundown for that. For the curious: He does the switching, or Perry does, or not. The many guitars Perry takes with him may be for certain songs, but maybe not. At moments notice. This tech isn’t just tuning the guitars during the show, he works about as hard as Perry in my opinion…